Abrasive scrubbing pads are commonly used for many cleaning and personal care practices. In general, scrubbing pads include a naturally occurring or manufactured abrasive material. Examples of typical abrasive materials commonly used in the past include pumice, loofah, steel wool, and a wide variety of plastic materials. A non-absorbent abrasive material is often combined with an absorbent sponge-like backing material in these products. For example, the abrasive material often forms a layer on a multi-layer product which also includes an absorbent layer of natural sponge, regenerated cellulose, or some other type of absorbent foamed product.
These scrubbing pads tend to be expensive, making them unsuitable for a disposable or single-use product. Due to the nature of the product use, however, the products can become fouled with dirt, grease, bacteria, and other contaminants after only one or two uses. As a result, consumers must replace these expensive scrubbing pads quite often in order to feel secure in the knowledge that they are using an uncontaminated cleaning pad.
Examples of abrasive cleaning articles have been described in the past. See, for example, International Published Application Number WO 02/41748, U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,588, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,349.
The present invention addresses these and other problems encountered with scrubbing pads in the past and is directed to disposable scrubbing pads which can provide a wide variety in level of abrasiveness, may be thin, comfortable and easy to hold, may have good absorbency, and may provide benefits not previously supplied in abrasive cleaning articles of the past.